The Second Life Of Professor Richard Lazarus
by ToryTigress92
Summary: The Doctor fails to stop Lazarus' machine, leaving Martha changed forever. How will she cope with her new life, along with a new Tardis crew member, as she struggles to remain human? Lazarus/Martha. AU Series 3.
1. A Very Big Bang

The Second Life Of Professor Richard Lazarus

Warning: Some violence, suggestive content.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

_**A/N:**_** Just two chapters to introduce the story. This will be updated eventually.**

* * *

_Martha looked up at the Doctor, silent, unmoving, still as a statue. Her heart still pounded from the chase, her feet aching from the heeled shoes she had been obliged to wear to this party, her gun hanging from one hand._

_Looking up into those ancient eyes, somehow Martha knew. She just knew._

_Martha had loved him once. She still did, in a way. Love takes many forms, and she had experienced a lot of them in the years since she had met the Doctor and travelled with him onboard the Tardis._

_Because of him, she had become the person she was today. Because of him, she had met her husband, had helped him find the road to redemption even as the Doctor slipped further and further away. She had redeemed her husband, but the Doctor…_

_The Doctor was now beyond help._

_She felt her husband turn, looking up at the Doctor, equally as silent, before he simply raised a hand, the one without a gun, in wordless, respectful farewell. He sensed the inevitable as well._

_The Doctor had helped Richard when no one else could have done, taught him what it truly meant to be human, even as he helped to ensure Richard would be around for a long time to come, like a fly frozen in amber._

_He felt his wife's grief through the psychic bond their condition had created between them, a condition of his making, one he had spent years trying to atone for._

_Martha certainly hadn't made it easy for him. The Doctor had healed them both, and now…_

_His time was up._

_As the Time Lord turned away, alone and distant as a star, Richard Lazarus held Martha to him, stroking her soft hair as she pressed her face against his dress shirt, pressing a kiss to her temple soothingly._

_Eyes closed, immersed in her husband, the image of the Doctor walking away burned on her eyelids, Martha vaguely thought back to when it had all began…_

* * *

_**2008**_

_**Lazarus Laboratories**_

Martha swore she could still feel the sticky imprint of the Professor's lips on her hand as she bent over the laptop with the Doctor. Her dress clung to her back uncomfortably in the stuffy laboratory, her blood thrumming pleasantly from the glass of champagne she had drunk downstairs before the demonstration.

"Amazing!" her companion sighed, a tension humming in his lanky frame which set Martha's nerves on edge.

"What?"

"Lazarus' DNA," the Doctor explained, the screen showing the chemical makeup of the miraculously rejuvenated Professor. Martha's trained eyes roved the screen, but she could see nothing differently. Genetics weren't exactly her area of expertise, as such.

"I can't see anything different," she shrugged, sensing the Doctor's impatient sigh.

"Look at it!" he snapped, when suddenly the DNA helix onscreen flashed and mutated in front of her eyes, as Martha gasped.

That was most definitely not good.

"Oh, my God! Did that just change?" she turned to the Doctor questioningly, "But it can't have!"

"But it did," the Doctor replied.

Martha sighed. Trying to keep up with the Doctor was hard work sometimes. "It's impossible!"

"And that's two impossible things we've seen so far tonight. Don't you love it when that happens?" he grinned, as she glanced at him. He looked gorgeous, in a geeky way, in those wacky glasses and the black tie. Like James Bond crossed with a mad scientist.

Shaking her head, telling her rebellious heart to stop racing this instant, she turned back to the laptop. "That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns," she mused, watching the mutating DNA pensively.

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilise the cell structure, then a mutagenic programme to manipulate the coding in the protein strands," the Doctor rattled off in explanation, making Martha stare at him in disbelief. "Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate."

The Doctor's eyes were filled with sort of manic concern, a twinkle in those deep brown orbs that both thrilled and scared Martha. She shrugged the feeling aside determinedly. "But they're still mutating now," she concluded.

"Because he missed something," he nodded, explaining. "Something in his DNA that's been activated and won't let him stabilise. Something that's trying to change him."

"This is getting a little too 'Jekyll and Hyde' for me," Martha joked, getting a grin from the Time Lord beside her. "But what will it change him into?"

"I don't know," the Doctor sighed. "But I think we need to find out."

"That woman said they were going upstairs," she remembered that haughty old lady saying, just before Lazarus kissed her hand.

"Let's go!" the Doctor was off like a shot, long legs rushing off before Martha could even turn away from the computer screen. She struggled to catch up, calling out to the Doctor in annoyance.

"Oi! Girl in high heels back here!" she called, the Time Lord glancing back at her derisively.

"Shouldn't have worn them then," he quipped, but he slowed down nonetheless. Martha swiped his shoulder when she caught up.

"Says the guy wearing sneakers with black tie," she muttered, earning her a glare from the Doctor.

"Oi! They look good. James Bond you said, now come on!" he grabbed her hand, and they rushed off, Martha wishing she had worn flats rather than heels as the balls of her feet began to throb.

* * *

They rushed away from the desiccated corpse of Lady Thaw, to the lifts, Martha pounding furiously on the down button.

She had no idea what Lazarus had mutated into, or what the Doctor was going to do, but her family were down there. She had to warn them, first and foremost.

Martha was ready to scream with frustration when the lift came and they rushed inside, the Doctor almost bouncing on the balls of his feet as they descended.

As soon as the doors opened, they rushed out, searching desperately for a head of blonde hair.

She hadn't known how much her heart could sink until Leo told her Lazarus had been getting cosy with Tish.

_Oh no, not my sister…_

Too concerned for Tish, she only threw an annoyed "Not now, Mum" over her shoulder as she rushed after the Doctor, idly thinking that Mum would explode over her now champagne ruined dress.

The office was empty when they emerged from the lift. Martha forced herself not to look at the cadaver lying on the floor, one black pump still visible.

"Where are they?" she cried, desperation sounding in her voice. The Doctor slid his screwdriver out of his pocket, fiddling with one of the dials.

"The fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature," he told her, as the sonic device started to flash and beep, when the Doctor raised his hand to the ceiling. "I might be able to pick it up."

Martha waited impatiently, until the Doctor snapped triumphantly. "Got him!"

"Where?" she asked, confused when the Doctor pointed to the ceiling. "But this is the top floor…" she trailed off, as realisation struck her at the same time as the Doctor. "The roof!"

They dashed off again, Martha hoping frantically that they were not too late.

_Hold on, Tish. We're coming._

* * *

The Doctor, Martha and Tish rushed back down the stairs, Martha lunging for the lift controls frantically. Her heart was racing, panting for breath as fear and adrenaline mixed together in her blood.

"Are you ok?" she asked Tish, who was wide-eyed and nauseous looking as she stared at the wall, chest rising and falling raggedly.

"I was gonna snog him!" she exclaimed disgustedly. Martha was too out of breath to feel exasperated at her sister's taste in men, as the monster Lazarus had become pounded at the roof access door.

She had to admit, before he turned into a terrifying cross between a scorpion and a crab, he had a sort of handsomeness about him. Blonde-haired, blue eyed and trim, while not George Clooney, he certainly wasn't hard on the eyes.

Well at least he certainly was now. Martha shook away silly thoughts as she turned to the Doctor expectantly.

Then the lights went.

"What's happened?" she asked fearfully.

"An intrusion. Security one, it triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts, seals the exits," Tish explained, to Martha's horror. If the power was down, then the lifts would be too.

"He must be breaking through that door," the Doctor turned away from the lifts, long legs leading the way. "The stairs. Come on!"

* * *

Of course the Doctor had to run off, as Martha and Tish helped everyone from the building.

Clearly, the Doctor had never learned not to insult big, mutated scorpions with giant, life-energy tails. And of course, Martha ran back in after him, as soon as she checked Leo was alright.

As she ran, she didn't think about why she was running in after the Doctor, again. She didn't question her motives, because she already knew why she was risking her life, leaving her family behind.

She loved him. She'd only known him five minutes, and she loved him. And he loved someone else. And she said Tish had bad taste in men.

A huge explosion ripped her away from her thoughts, as she paused in whatever corridor she was currently in, and raced towards it, feet aching.

Blisters were the least of her worries right now.

She collided with the Doctor, sliding into his arms, trying not to relish the feeling.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, shocked. Martha grinned and held up his sonic screwdriver.

"I'm returning this. Thought you might need it."

"How did you-?" he asked, stupefied.

"Heard the explosion, guessed it was you," Martha wanted to dance around in circles at the impressed look in the Doctor's eyes.

"I blasted Lazarus."

"Did you kill him?" she asked, urgently. But then a growl and the sound of breaking glass had both turning to see the monster bearing down on them.

"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say," the Doctor replied, grabbing her and hauling them both away at a sprint.

* * *

Lazarus chased them back into the reception room, sliding to a halt as they realised they had taken a wrong turn.

"What now? We've just gone round in a circle," Martha exclaimed, looking for another way out. Lazarus bounded round the corner, and the Doctor grabbed her hand, dragging her towards the rejuvenation capsule, shining ethereally in the midst of the ruined reception.

"We can't lead him outside. Come on, get in," the Doctor pushed her in first, then clambered in himself, locking the door with his screwdriver.

Inside, there was barely room to breathe, let alone move, and Martha was pressed against the Doctor.

She hoped he couldn't see her blushing, at the feel of his body pressed against hers.

"Are we hiding?" she asked fearfully, unable to push it away now they were cornered.

"No, he knows we're here," the Doctor murmured. "But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."

"But we're trapped!" she snapped. The urge to roll her eyes came and went at the Doctor's short-sightedness. Although, to be honest, she hadn't found another way out either.

"Well, yeah, that is a slight problem," her companion conceded.

"You mean you don't have a plan?"

"Yes. The plan was to get inside here," he looked down at her, annoyed, and their lips were inches apart. Martha let irritation rise, as she glared at him.

"Then what?"

"Well…" the Doctor struggled, looking away. "I'd come up with another plan."

Joy. Sometimes she could strangle that bloody man! "In your own time, then," she muttered, looking away to the shadow of Lazarus prowling outside the capsule, searching for a way to get at them without harming his precious creation.

The Doctor tried to reach his sonic screwdriver, crushing Martha's arm and chest in the process.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," he muttered, pulling the metal tube free. "Here we are."

"What are you going to do with that?" she asked, as he knelt down, crushing her even more. He was too bloody tall!

"Improvise," he grunted, kneeling down to one of the floor panels and prising it open.

Lazarus' words had come back to bite him in the backside, it seemed, as Martha listened to the Doctor's explanation of what had happened to Lazarus.

A throwback. An evolutionary, genetic throwback that he had unlocked when he hacked into his own genes.

Then a humming started up, and the capsule flooded with blue light. It began to shake, and Martha looked to the Doctor for reassurance.

"What's happening?"

"Sounds like he switched the machine on," he muttered, pausing in whatever wire he had been fiddling with.

"That's not good, is it?" she snapped caustically.

"Well, it had hoped it was going to take him a little bit longer to work that out," he replied tersely, returning to his tinkering. Panic began to rise in Martha, as the humming intensified, the light becoming painful as she felt a curious sense of heat begin to rise up her body.

What would the machine do to them? Explode? Or turn them into creatures like Lazarus?

Would it turn her into a baby, seeing as she was already young. Either way, Martha really didn't fancy having to go through puberty again.

The lights flashed, making Martha flinch, the humming feeling like it sank into her very bones. She swore she could feel something inside her, hot, painful, but she flinched it back.

"I don't want to hurry you but…" she hissed.

"I know. Nearly done," the Doctor growled, the machine's noise drowning out the sound of the sonic screwdriver.

"What are you doing?" she shouted.

"Trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it!"

"Will that kill him?" she asked, frantically.

"When he transforms, he's three times the size, cellular triplication so he's spreading himself thin," he replied.

"We're gonna end up like him," she screamed, eyes shut tight against the light, as that heat raced through her body, agony replacing mere pain.

"Just one more!" the Doctor shouted, but then the light and the agony exploded, and Martha knew no more.

* * *

Martha was vaguely aware of someone calling her name. Someone familiar, someone she knew very well.

Leo? Dad? No…

No, not her family. Then who?

_Martha…wake up, Martha…_

That voice was inside her head, and she struggled to comply. It was much nicer where she was, dark and warm and soft.

_Bugger off_, she sniped.

_Hey, don't be so rude. Come Martha, wake up. Your family wants to see you…_

The Doctor!

Martha opened her eyes, feeling like she had been through a blender. Her muscles ached, there was a lingering pain in the very centre of her body and behind her eyes.

She blinked, as the fuzzy image of a man came into view, tall, gangly and dark-haired in a sharp suit.

"Doctor?" she rasped, a rhythmic _bleep_ making her headache worse. She really wanted it to shut up.

"I'm here, Martha," he took her hand. "You're in hospital. Leo, Tish and your mum are fine, and they're waiting outside…"

"W-what happened?" she asked, mind still groggy. She tried to sit up, but her muscles were highly uncooperative. "The machine…Lazarus…"

"Lazarus is in custody. We're in a special UNIT hospital. UNIT's a special kind of alien-fighting organisation thing…I used to work for them…anyway, he's being held somewhere safe, where he can't hurt anyone," the Doctor explained. Martha's brain, while not at 100% yet, noticed he hadn't answered her first query.

"And us? Are _**we**_ alright?" she asked quietly. The Doctor met her eyes, and her heart sank.

"The machine exploded and the energy field flooded that room. We were lucky to survive," he told her. "The energy did nothing to my DNA, a bit harder to hack than yours but, Martha…"

"Just tell me," she closed her eyes, feeling the Time Lord's cold one surrounding hers.

"The energy did affect you. It didn't rejuvenate you in the same way it did Lazarus, but the energy healed any wounds from the explosion but I'm afraid there's a chance it might have awakened the same dormant genes in you that it did Lazarus."

Martha's hand dropped from his, and she stared blankly into the distance. She was vaguely aware of him leaving, muttering something about fetching her mum, as the news sank in.

She was like Lazarus. She was a monster.

* * *

_To be continued..._


	2. Action And Reaction

The Second Life Of Professor Richard Lazarus

Warning: Some violence, suggestive themes.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Martha really wanted her mum to just stop talking.

"I can't believe this, Martha. I just knew this Doctor of yours wasn't quite right, and now look where he's got you! In hospital! Martha, you'll never finish your degree unless you focus!" Francine Jones snapped at her daughter. Martha closed her eyes, her head aching.

She was starving.

"As for whatever happened with that machine, and that professor…really, Martha that man is dangerous!"

"Mum, enough!" she snapped, finally. It wasn't the Doctor's fault she was like this. It was Lazarus's for creating that thing in the first place. "The Doctor didn't put me in here, Lazarus did."

"Well, at least he's locked up now," Tish put in, smiling with teary eyes at her sister from the other side of the bed. Leo just grinned, recovered from his concussion, and Dad patted her hand. For once the Jones family were united around Martha.

"When did you get so rude!? When you met him, that's when," Francine snapped back. "You won't even tell us anything about him!"

_Oh yeah_, Martha thought caustically,_ I can imagine that conversation. Oh, Mum, meet my friend the Doctor. He's a nine hundred year old alien from the planet Gallifrey and he's also the last of his kind. And he had two hearts._

That conversation would go down well.

"Mum," Tish began gently. "He did rescue me from Lazarus, and he hasn't left Martha's side. Perhaps you should give him a chance."

"Where is he now, I ask you!?" Francine replied, waving her hand dramatically.

"No offence, Mum, but I don't blame him," Leo grinned, making Martha roll her eyes.

"D'you think you can stop ranting about the Doctor long enough to get me a sandwich? I'm starving," she asked. Francine's lips thinned as she stopped talking, but she and Leo did as Martha asked, wandering down to the cafeteria to try and find something.

"I'm glad you're alright," Tish murmured, squeezing her sister's hand. Martha's breath hitched as she remembered the Doctor's words.

She most definitely was not alright.

"Me too," she lied. "How long can you stay?"

"Not much longer. This lot are even fussier than the NHS!" Tish joked, while Martha felt only relief. If she started to…change, then at least they wouldn't be too close by.

Oddly, she felt sore and achy, and very hungry, but she didn't seem to be going into the same convulsions that Lazarus had. Perhaps the mutation wasn't as severe? Or had it not started affecting her yet?

Francine and Leo came back with a whole selection of sandwiches; tuna, chicken salad, ham and cheese, egg mayonnaise.

Martha ate them all.

The Jones' were obliged to leave shortly after, a uniformed nurse escorting them out, although Francine naturally protested. Loudly.

* * *

Martha smirked, settling back into her pillows, counting under her breath. _One, two, three…_

She had just reached one hundred and twenty when a familiar, spiky-haired face poked itself around her door.

"Have they gone yet?" the Doctor asked.

"Coward," she countered, glad to see him. "But, yeah. They're gone."

"I am no coward, Martha Jones!" he snapped, offended. Then he looked sheepish. "Although your mother…I reckon she could see off a whole army of Daleks."

"Probably," she chuckled, before sobering. "Where have you been?"

"Research. I've started trying to find a way to stabilise your DNA, prevent the mutation. If I can do that, I might be able to help Lazarus as well," he explained. "The mutation is more advanced, but there's a chance."

"Why haven't I started changing yet?" Martha asked. "Lazarus started mutating shortly after he was rejuvenated by the device."

The Doctor shrugged. "I dunno. It could be because you weren't 'rejuvenated' as such. You were already young, the machine had little to do there. The hypersonic waves did awaken those dormant genes in your DNA however."

"I think I'm getting some symptoms," she ventured. "I am really hungry."

"I can tell," he grinned, his eyes on the empty sandwich boxes on her table. When his eyes rose to hers, they were infinitely sad. "Oh, Martha Jones. I am so sorry."

"Not your fault. Lazarus made that machine, not you," she shrugged, suddenly feeling just as sad and lonely. Whatever she was, she wasn't human. "Guess my life is just gonna have to change."

Suddenly she was enveloped by cool arms encased in a dark blue suit. She hugged the Doctor back hard, squeezing her eyes shut so the tears wouldn't escape.

"I'll be with you every step of the way. I won't let you become a monster," he promised. "It'll take time, but I won't stop."

"Thanks, Doctor," Martha smiled through her tears. "I guess it's ok to be scared?"

"Oh, Martha, you'd better believe it," he told her, as he leaned back. "Rest. I'll be back as soon as I've got news."

After the gangly Time Lord left, Martha tried to do as he said but it was impossible. Her mind raced, and her entire body felt like it was full of energy.

Energy she knew would start turning against her soon enough. Was this how it had felt for Lazarus?

There came a sudden burning rush of pain, deep inside, which made her gasp and double over.

What-?

Was it starting?

But then with the pain came a simmering rage and arrogant disdain which Martha was pretty sure wasn't anything to do with her. She frowned, as the pain dimmed, the anger and the disdain with it, and tried to sleep.

She'd talk to the Doctor tomorrow.

* * *

Over the next few days, Martha was prodded, poked and glanced over with a magnifying glass. She tried not to resent it, but the cautious looks the Doctor gave her, and the wary ones of the staff, only made her hackles rise.

She was a human being for goodness' sake, not a lab experiment.

She hadn't mentioned that odd influx of pain and anger to the Doctor. For some reason, when it came to it, she had felt reluctant as if confessing something that was intimate.

Which was ridiculous. The Doctor had bloody well kissed her! And she needed to tell him.

Martha was gradually aware of something changing in her senses. Sometimes she saw people as nothing more than semi-transparent humanoid shapes, haloed in blue light. She guessed she had to be seeing life energy, since the light tended to be stronger around young people. The Doctor's glow, however, was almost aquamarine.

Then she'd blink, and that sense would fail, and she would be an ordinary human again. Except for those odd feelings of pain, of anger and resentment and fierce, fierce pride.

And loneliness. Cold, icy loneliness coupled with a strong sense of denial.

Sometimes at night, Martha felt like there was something at the corners of her mind, seeking her, trying to reach out to her. But it evaporated like mist whenever she tried to reach for it too.

Martha's family weren't allowed to visit again. They were told she was infected with a virus, and she had to be quarantined. She was glad for that; if she changed into one of those…things, then better her family was as far away as possible.

That didn't stop Martha from feeling alone, from feeling like a freak with the looks she got from the nurses and the soldiers. And the Doctor was usually too busy just to hang around for a quick chat. She knew he was trying to help her, but a hard ball of resentment was growing in her chest, and it was becoming harder to swallow it back.

* * *

Two nights after the incident at Lazarus Laboratories, Martha awoke gasping.

Her entire body was trembling as she stumbled into the ensuite bathroom she had, desperately splashing cool water over her heated skin. Staring at her appearance, she desperately tried to make sense of what was happening.

It wasn't the convulsions she had been expecting, heralding her transformation into a monster, but something else…something more insidious.

It was a desperate desire, _longing_, _**need**_ even. Her pupils were dilated, her breathing nothing more than a frantic pant, and as for the rest of her, well…

"Martha?" a familiar voice called. Martha turned to find the Doctor eying her concernedly, worry in his dark eyes. "You ok?"

"Doctor, something's wrong," she gasped, hands shaking where they gripped the sink. Her legs went out from under her, and she was vaguely aware of the Doctor hauling her up and carrying her to her bed. "I feel…something's not right."

"Tell me. Pain? Convulsions? Are you feeling lethargic or hungry?" he asked urgently, his frown deepening as she shook her head. "What then?"

He laid her down on her bed, and took a seat beside her, her hand in his.

"Tell me," he breathed insistently. Martha stared at him, trying to find the words. Instead, she decided to show him, as her eyes fell to his thin, tempting lips.

She kissed him.

The Doctor huffed in surprise, pulling back even as Martha reached for him, before she stopped, frowning.

Something wasn't right. _**He**_ wasn't right. The Doctor wasn't the one she needed.

"M-Martha?! What the hell-?" the Doctor stammered in shock. "I'm flattered, Martha but-"

"No!" Martha suddenly yelled. "No, you're not right. I _**need **_something, someone. Not you."

She felt an answering desire, deep within her, but she didn't dare tread its depths to find out who she needed. But that primal need was still there, and it wasn't going away.

The Doctor's expression darkened, and he leaned forward. "Martha, do you trust me?" he asked, the human meeting his eyes steadily.

She nodded, and he stretched his hands out to either side of her head, his fingertips pressing into her temples. He closed his eyes, Martha's closing by instinct.

She gasped, and pulled away, shivering. God, that had felt wrong! So, so wrong!

The Doctor had probed whatever was inside her mind, and it had felt _wrong_. Like he was touching something far too intimate that he wasn't meant to. Wasn't allowed to, something sacred, holy, forbidden.

She had pulled away as quickly as she could, and she moved away from the Doctor even as fear rose up to choke her. Not fear of the Doctor, but fear of herself.

The Doctor was staring at her, eyes wide, mouth agape. "No, no, no!" he murmured. Silence fell between them, as the Doctor sprang up and began pacing, running his hand through his hair.

"What is it?" Martha finally muttered.

"Oh, Martha I am so, so sorry," he murmured.

"What is it?" she repeated, that resentment starting to well up again, and this time, she didn't push it away.

"When the mutagenic programme activated those dormant genes, it activated several areas of the brain which usually remain dormant," he began to explain. "Whatever you've been feeling, it's because you're…connected, psychically, to Lazarus."

"Connected to Lazarus!?" Martha exploded. "What does that mean?"

"Your minds are linked. As far as I can tell, it's just emotions, but there's something else activated by the dormant genes," the Doctor continued, Martha tensing expectantly. "It's….a mating instinct."

"E-excuse me?" she gasped.

"Basically, it's nature's way of continuing the species. Lazarus is the only male, now you're the only female and your mutated bodies are trying to set you up, to create more of your kind. The most basic urge any organism possesses; the urge to procreate…" the Doctor trailed off. "I was coming to tell you just now, actually. Your CAT scans were…worrying, and now I know why."

"So my head is connected to a monster, and I'm getting the hots for him, because of some…biological instinct?!" Martha screeched, making the Time Lord wince. "Thanks, why would I want to know that!?"

"Martha, calm down, it's alright. If it makes you feel any better, Lazarus is probably feeling it even worse than you are right now," he offered, making Martha glare at him.

"Thanks for the reassurance. So what do I do? What if I change? Will I be able to stop myself, or him, before we end up…mating?" she grimaced. The Doctor sighed, hugging her hard.

"You'll have to stay away from him," he told her, making Martha roll her eyes.

"Oh, yeah, because I'm his number one fan right now," she sniped sarcastically. The desire had ebbed, but there was a feeling of confusion which she doubted was entirely hers. Lazarus was as puzzled as she was.

* * *

Martha tried, she really did, to avoid testing the bond between her and Lazarus. At some level, she was intrigued by the idea of her mind expanding because of the machine, and she idly started pondering how to test it.

The Doctor had started working a serum which would stabilise her mutating DNA, as long as she took regular doses of it. He had invented another one which delayed her mutation, slowed it down even more than it had been. For some reason, her mutation was happening far slower than Lazarus's was, but why, the Doctor didn't know and could only speculate. He'd also given it to Lazarus too, which might have explained the feelings of anger, frustration and distrust she'd felt the morning after her little episode with the Doctor. She was pretty sure they weren't her emotions, but she wasn't sure.

Her rebelliousness only grew with the Doctor treating her like a mix between a lab rat and a dangerous bomb about to explode. Not to mention, sometimes the line between her emotions and Lazarus's emotions blurred. His anger became her anger, her resentment became his resentment.

She wondered if he knew, had realised yet, what their bodies were doing to betray them.

As much as she hated him, as much as she was repulsed by his actions, his arrogance and his disdain for human life other than his own, they were in the same boat. He was only the one who knew exactly what she feeling. Literally.

She wondered if they could feel more than just emotions. Maybe she could access more…?

That afternoon, Martha lay down on her bed, closed her eyes and concentrated.

It was much like trying to follow something that you could only see out of the corner of your eye. The moment you tried to turn fully and see it, it disappeared, as intangible as smoke.

She frowned, frustrated, but forged on, her mind swamped with feelings other than her own, and then success!

They began to solidify, to merge into memories, tangible images and sounds. Then…

Martha sat bolt upright, chest heaving. For one moment, one impossible moment, she had seen the world through Richard Lazarus's eyes, the cold walls of his cell, the glass observation wall, the harsh halogen ceiling lamps…

And then he'd felt her. He said her name. _Martha Jones…_

That voice like velvet, like silk, and that desire had reared its head, except this time she experienced it twofold, through him and through hers. And she knew he'd felt the same. She had never felt so _connected_ to anyone in her entire life. Her hatred, her repulsion, was forgotten; the Doctor's warnings a dim memory, as she sprang to her feet and slid them into her trainers.

The summons, the plea, rang in her mind, impossible to disobey.

_Martha, come to me…_

The door slammed with a sense of finality as she rushed out of her room, a new strength, a new energy filling her every cell, hunger overcoming the serum in her system, and the mutated monster within straining to be let out, to feed, to find its mate, to be _**free**_.

* * *

_To be continued..._


End file.
